


Across the Stars

by seawench



Series: Bookends [2]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Going On Facebook: A Darcy Lewis Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 06:01:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seawench/pseuds/seawench
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the other side of the universe, Darcy and Bruce begin to make their way back to one another</p>
            </blockquote>





	Across the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheGreatSporkWielder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatSporkWielder/gifts).



> This is what I started to write for the Going on Facebook challenge. It's taken on a life of its own but this chapter, at least, is done. The rest, I assume, will fall out of my head on its own schedule.
> 
> For TheGreatSporkWielder, who wanted Bruce convincing Darcy they should be together.

He finds her on a balcony overlooking the Bifrost. The golden marble is a far cry from her fire escape in Manhattan, but her expression and posture are instantly recognizable. They used to sit together, searching the sky for a completely different set of stars. 

He would leave her alone, but the delegation leaves in the morning. It’s been nearly six months since their last face-to-face conversation, and he has no idea when he’ll have a chance for another.

Bruce clears his throat and steps out of the shadows. “They never get any less amazing, do they?”

Darcy tenses for a moment, then sighs and shrugs. “It was disorienting at first. I kept looking for the constellations I know.”

Bruce’s heart stutters. They went camping in the Adirondacks a few times - one of the few places the team didn’t seem to follow - and she told him the stories of the stars she knew. He can still recall the warmth of her legs entwined in his, cocooned together in blankets by the fire. 

“I don't know all the new ones yet. Fandral’s been telling me their stories when he has time.”

In the clear moonlight, he can see the fine lines beginning to form around her eyes. She’s nearly thirty now, since he's edging on fifty, and her eyes hold a new wariness. 

“Why are you here, Bruce?”

“I wanted to talk to you before we left. You've been so busy that I haven't had a chance.”

“Sit then.” 

He sits. They watch the stars in silence until Bruce can almost pretend they are back in New York, before it all went wrong. 

“What are we talking about?”

Bruce looks at her and the careful phrases he'd lined up wither on his tongue. The moonlight catches the highlights in her hair. She is as she’s always been: his star, glowing in the darkness.

He shrugs and manages, “I miss you.” It’s suddenly very important that he has something to do with his hands. “And I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I don't think I've said that before.” He fidgets with the end of his ceremonial sash.  
She looks at him for a few long minutes. “No, you haven't.”

She's studying him now, the cool diplomat searching out his motives. Bruce steels himself for what comes next.

“I behaved badly, and I didn't give you enough credit. I shouldn't have tried to make your choices for you.”

“Damn straight.” There’s no anger in her tone, just resignation.

“Thor, um, told me that you were settled and doing well. You like it here?”

She hesitates before answering. “It’s been amazing. Everything is so different; it’s hard to believe it’s all real sometimes. I was rushed around so much that homesickness never had time to sink in.” Another long pause. “Everyone has been very friendly.”

“Thor said you spend a lot of time with his friends, especially Lady Sif.” Bruce can’t keep the note of jealousy out of his voice. He hates how petulant he sounds. 

“Hogun mostly keeps to himself, but Fandral and Volstagg are great. Sif … Well, that was never going to last, not with Loki back anyway.” She looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. “Hell of a lot of fun while it lasted.”

“I see.” Images flood his brain and he reddens. He stuffs them aside for later. “What are you going to do now that the Bifrost is working?”

“It’s a little up in the air. I could stay. It’s not really necessary, but they’ve made it clear I have a home here if I want one.”

“Oh.” Bruce deflates a little.

“I do miss New York. It’s the only place in the Nine Realms you can get a decent hot dog and a proper piece of pizza. And I miss hanging out with Jane, Natasha, and the guys.”

She doesn’t say ‘But I don’t miss you.’ It isn’t much, but it’s something, and Bruce clings to it. He takes a deep breath and the next sentence rushes out almost of its own accord.

“I wanted to see, or ask, I guess... can we go back to being friends?”

A heavy silence descends. It isn’t long, but the weight of it flattens him.

“We never were friends, Bruce. We hooked up at a few parties, and then I moved to New York. We hung out a few times, and, before I knew it, you were spending half the weekend in my apartment. It was lovely, but it wasn’t a friendship.”

“You’re right.” Bruce sighs but figures it’s still worth trying. “We could try being friends?”

“I’m not sure I can do that.” The statement is matter of fact. She could be a banker, turning him down for a loan with all the emotion it contains. Bruce starts to get up, but freezes when Darcy continues, more quietly, “Maybe if I didn’t love you so much...” Her words trail off.

Bruce is stuck half-crouched, hand on the railing for balance. He doesn’t dare move in case she continues. 

Darcy takes a deep breath. “It took me a while, but I was doing fine. Then you show up a year later and expect me to be grateful for your ‘sacrifice.’” Her eyes flash with such bitterness that he has to look away.

“I was a coward. I know that now.” Bruce lowers himself back down, still afraid to meet her eyes. “You were hurting and it was my fault, and I couldn’t...” He fidgets with the sash again. “It was stupid, but I thought … If I left you alone, you might have a better chance at being happy.” He turns back to see her crumpled in on herself. It’s so unlike her usual defiant posture that he reaches out. She flinches at his touch but doesn’t shake him off.

“It wasn’t your fault. It was mine.” Her voice is soft, defeated.

“Darcy, how can you say that? The gamma radiation...”

“My genes, Bruce. Hank did the autopsy. We could have fixed the defect if we’d known about it, but...”

“Oh, Darcy...”

She looks at him then, a universe of devastation in her eyes. “And you just left me there.”

Bruce gathers her into his arms without thinking, murmuring unintelligible apologies. She tenses for only a second before she collapsing, crying softly into his chest. He strokes her hair, every bit as soft as he remembers, and cries with her.

They sit there until the tears dry up, then in silence until Darcy begins to shiver with cold, fatigue, and spent emotion. Bruce rubs her arms for warmth. With the gesture he is transported once again to that fire escape in Manhattan. He wishes he never left.

“Can you ever forgive me?” he blurts out, immediately regretting it. He’s not sure he wants to know the answer.

Darcy sighs, but doesn’t move to leave the embrace. “I don’t know. I want to.”

They breathe against each other for a few minutes before Darcy speaks again. “I left the planet. I couldn’t avoid you forever, so I left Earth.” She twists to look at him. “Even that didn’t help.”

“When you left, I went a little crazy.” She raises an eyebrow and he corrects himself: “Well, a little more crazy.” The Other Guy smashed an entire lab floor before jumping out a 30th floor window and hiding in Central Park. Tony told him later that he found the Hulk sitting under a bridge, crying. 

“Tony told me he barely saw you for months.” Darcy tucks a strand of hair behind his ear. A line of fire shoots straight down his spine. It’s a familiar gesture, but his body is unaccustomed to touch these days.

“Hiding was the only option for a while. I was so busy hating myself that I almost lost control.” Bruce looks at her, no pride left, not even the arrogance that led him to think he knew what was best. “He told me not to go.”

“Tony?”

“No. The Other Guy. When I left after… The entire flight to Libya, all I could hear was him screaming.”

“Smart guy.” Darcy relaxes against his chest again. His heart skips a beat, and a rumble of assent sounds somewhere only he can hear.


End file.
